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undreds of suckermouth catfish in the Cileungsi River in Bogor, West Java, were found dead, allegedly because of pollution, during an inspection on Tuesday.

Jakarta Ombudsman head Teguh Nugroho said the inspection was carried out in several spots of the river where it was suspected the pollution originated, namely the Wika Bridge, the Narogong Bridge in the border areas of Bogor regency and Bekasi City, and the Pocong Bridge.

“At the last location, we found hundreds of dead suckermouth catfish. In addition, the water of the river is blackened, smelly and foamy,” Teguh said in a media statement released on Wednesday.

Teguh said the fish were usually quite resistant to pollutants from domestic waste and that the deaths could be an indication of worsening pollution in the Cileungsi River.

He suspected that the pollution was chemical waste discarded by factories in the area.

Consequently, Teguh and his team also conducted inspections at the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of two companies that, according to the Bogor Environmental Agency, had previously made improvements.

“At one of the companies we inspected, there were violations of the minimum standards in the waste treatment process,” Teguh said.

The Jakarta Ombudsman’s findings included the improper treatment of hazardous and toxic solid waste, which were found scattered throughout the factory building, leaky pipes at its WWTP and the absence of public information on waste.

Last year, the ombudsman found that 54 companies operated in violation of their waste disposal licenses.

In response, the Bogor Environment Agency then supervised the licensing processes of the companies. Later, 17 of them were declared clean.

Meanwhile, Bogor Regent Ade Yasin said that her administration had repeatedly reminded several companies not to directly dump their toxic waste into the Cileungsi River and some companies had already been subjected to punishment.

“We have warned them many times. Some companies that reportedly polluted the river have even been taken to the court,” Ade said as quoted by Antara news agency.

She added that she would threaten to shut down the companies that polluted the river if the punishments in place proved to be ineffective in stopping them from harming the environment.

“Since there is no deterrent effect via warnings and punishments, it would be better if we just shut them down,” Ade said.

Earlier this month, the Cileungsi and Cikeas Rivers Care Community found dead suckermouth catfish in the Cikeas River in neighboring Bekasi.

The chairman of the community, Puarman, said the deaths of the fish might have been caused by the worsening water pollution in the Cileungsi River.

“There are no big companies in Cikeas. There is only a tofu factory that will not make that big of an impact. The pollution, which has been getting worse since a month ago, must come from the waste of dozens of factories discarding waste into the Cileungsi River, which then flows to the Cikeas,” Puarman said as quoted by kompas.com.(syk)